Athula Samarasekera was an imposing figure; a strapping physique leant him the ability to play some commanding innings. With the bat in hand he was capable of powerful strikes and was a more than handy medium-pace bowler. Samarasekera made an inauspicious start to his career, scoring a duck on his one-day international
debut. On his Test debut he matched the performance, being dismissed in the first innings for a duck. In the second innings he played a characteristically breezy innings making 57, punctuated by a number of boundaries. He completed a promising allround match capturing two wickets and taking two catches. Too
often though Samarasekera was dismissed when he seemed set to dominate the bowling, a substantial score beckoning. When he did score it was well worth watching as he provided maximum entertainment with his aggressive style. Never able to fully establish a permanent position in the team, Samarasekera chose to
end his international career by deciding to take up professional cricket in Bangladesh.
Johann P Jayasekera